Proactively “From the Sea”; an agent of change leveraging the littoral best practices for a paradigm breaking six-sigma best business case to synergize a consistent design in the global commons, rightsizing the core values supporting our mission statement via the 5-vector model through cultural diversity.

In preparation for the annual Diversity Accountability Brief that I will be giving CNO next month, my N1 has put together the attached slides. The data, pulled from TWMS earlier this week, represents what is in the system but actual assignment of personnel in your XXXXXX may vary. Please review and submit changes as necessary.

A change in focus of this year's diversity brief is the desire to identify our key performers (by name) and provide insight on each of them. CNO is interested in who are the diverse officers with high potential and what is the plan for their career progression.He may ask what is being done within to ensure they are considered for key follow on billets within the Navy. This list must be held very closely but will provide ready reference to ensure we are carefully monitoring and supporting the careers of the best and the brightest the Navy has to offer.

Please review the data provided and report your concurrence or identify specific anomalies. Your insight to the diverse composition of your command will assist in my discussion with CNO. Additionally, provide your by name list including career insight for your top performers (03 and above) in those key positions. This reporting requirement will not be put into TV4 taskers due to the sensitive nature of the by name list. Input is due to me by 2 August 2010.

R/

Yes - I noticed the race exclusive "best and brightest." This isn't the B&B of all the Junior Officers - but only a select group based on certain self-identified races and ethnicities.

Makes you proud of the Navy - doesn't it?

Thumbs on the scale - open and plain. Undue Command Influence on your FITREPS and detailing based on race and ethnicity has gone wholesale. More proof, as if you need it, that we do not treat our officers equally regardless of race, creed, color, or national origin.

This goes well beyond the retail phonecalls or subtle hints - this is full-frontal; red in tooth and claw racism.

Once again - words mean things. Look at the first clause of (1) and all of (2);

rac·ism [rey-siz-uhm]–noun1. a belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human races determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one's own race is superior and has the right to rule others.2. a policy, system of government, etc., based upon or fostering such a doctrine; discrimination.

And to help with the last word in para 2.

dis·crim·i·na·tion [dih-skrim-uh-ney-shuhn]–noun1. an act or instance of discriminating.2. treatment or consideration of, or making a distinction in favor of or against, a person or thing based on the group, class, or category to which that person or thing belongs rather than on individual merit: racial and religious intolerance and discrimination.

This makes me sad. The response from the CNO's office on this email.

Consistent with CNO's Diversity Policy, the purpose of any Diversity Accountability Review is to ensure Navy leaders are involved and active in creating an environment where all Navy personnel have opportunities for personal and professional growth. The Diversity Accountability Review calls for Navy leaders to show how they are mentoring and enabling the men and women in their commands to meet their full potential based on performance, and making sure that opportunities to reach more senior levels of leadership are available to all in an equal manner.

Why sad? Because this pursuit of the ill-thought out has made my Navy sound like a bad politician. It can't defend what it does in a clear and defined manner - because it knows that it is wrong. All you need to do is see the use of "all."

That is a false statement on its face. The followers of the Diversity Cult do not concern themselves with "all" - only a few select groups that buys them political support and feed their need - whatever that need is. In this specific case - they are not doing a data call on all. Only a select group based on race, creed, color, or national origin.

Orwelian. "All" doesn't mean all as the plan is being executed. In practice - in Operationalizing Diversity - "all" means "selected racial and ethnic groups." Full stop.

When you throw in a loaded word like "accountability" - you are sending the signal that you will punish those who do not meet your metrics as you define them. In this case, the demand is that you discriminate, and prove by numbers that you do.

When you do that - you are acting in a racist manner. If you can explain it better - let me know.

Let me finish with this; I have done it before - time to do it again. Another word.

ac·count·a·bil·i·ty [uh-koun-tuh-bil-i-tee]–noun1. the state of being accountable, liable, or answerable.2. Education . a policy of holding schools and teachers accountable for students' academic progress by linking such progress with funding for salaries, maintenance, etc

Diversity Accountability Initiative.

In summary and to repeat again for emphasis - at the highest levels of our uniformed leadership, there is a desire to hold subordinate leaders accountable if they do not rank, career manage, and detail officers by a process defined by discrimination on the basis of race and ethnicity.

What started out as good intentions turned to tragedy, then farce, and finally racism. Welcome to the post-post-racial Navy.

If I hadn't pulled chocks 10 years ago, this would have been the words that would have me put in my papers. Not my Navy anymore, but I hope the "diverse" sailors are qualified to stand the watch, they will be the only people left to do so as the evil white skinned males decide there is a much better place for them to live and work.

Not that DOJ will act on it though. Civil Rights Division should be renamed Minority Civil Rights Division. Although, the way that Roughead groups people, white folks are technically the minority of the nation. You have white folks, and you have everyone else. By now, everyone else lump sum is more than white folks.

Some folks with stars on their collar should be facing a courts martial over crap like this. It is obvious that they know they're doing wrong. When you see words like "<span><span>This list must be held very closely</span></span>" it is clear they have some sense of how ugly this crap will seem to decent people.

The 2010 CNO Version:“I have a dream that one day this Navy will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that some men and women deserve preferential treatment.”…I have a dream that one day even the United States Navy, a service sweltering with the heat of justice, sweltering with the heat of earning your way, will be transformed into an oasis of discrimination and prejudice.I have a dream that my little Sailors will one day live in a nation where they will be judged by the color of their skin or gender or ethnicity, and not by the content of their character.I have a dream today.”Admiral Gary Roughead is a disgrace to the uniform he wears. A political coward unfit for leadership in the United States Navy. His reprehensible policies of racial and gender discrimination under the guise of “diversity” are contrary to Navy values and the laws of this nation.He has a shrinking Navy rusting and rotting around him, ill-prepared for the job of projecting influence and power, let alone fighting our nation’s wars. Yet, his focus is here.Admiral Roughead should resign immediately. He dishonors his service and the men and women who serve in it.

Stand and fight, LT B - I'm retired, so I can't fight from INSIDE the Service but I sure can from outside. What I care about, and cared about "back in the day" - was effectiveness in combat. First line in CO's orders" Our job is to fight and win at sea". All else - ALL ELSE is subordinate. Lieutenants matter!

I asked a question a few weeks ago about notebooks being handed down in a command and was told that any such item, once it is passed around becomes an official document that needs to be codified and registered as such on the Federal Register. Wonder if these "magical lists" should by Federal Regulation, be publicized.

What is the logical conclusion of all of this silliness? Well, it will favor so-called minorities and whites will leave the service in greater numbers. Then we really will have a service comprised of minorities so... (wait for it....) the papers can scream and holler about the injustice of a country that sends its minorities to fight and die in its wars. It's a "can't-win" game.....

As we watch the Constitution get shredded, vomited upon and destroyed, the question becomes, how do we honor our oath to defend it, and the other question is, what will be left in my beloved nation to defend if we destroy its founding principles? Do I like the history of segregation w/in my nation and my armed services? No! Do I want to go back to that? No! And yes, this skirts the edge of an illegal order. This could end up in the Supreme Court. Some OTHER issue taking our military leadership away from putting warheads on foreheads. Byron, I believe he is in violation of his oath.

"including career insight for your top performers (03 and above) in those key positions"

OMFG!!! WTF!? I PITY THE FOOL!!! This is not "deep select" this is RACISM... if you are an addee on this email and you dont have "top performing O-3's" with diverse enough sounding names.. well you just did,,, sucks to be the OPS O or DCA on a ship and doing the job cause you can keep your crew alive and out of trouble, and now along comes Jose, or Shaniqua who is now your boss because you mom named you Gerald, and your a white dude...

If Jose could do the job, (and YES I HAVE served with a Jose who KNEW his shit) then it wouldnt matter, but he wouldnt be on a named list to a group of Admirals with the intent to move that list to a diversity directorate to track future promotions....

THIS IS A DEFACTO SELECTION LIST FOR AS LONG AS THESE "NAMED TOP PERFORMERS" STAY IN THE MILITARY... THIS IS WRONG AND UNEQUAL AND NOT CONSTITUTIONAL.,, WHERE IS THE BATTLE JAG NOW????

LT B, life goes on outside the military and you can still find ways to serve our great nation with out the BS.

on the other hand, one of the reasons I stayed back during the Clinton Draw down BS was I refused to surrender to the shit heads..... I may have been a voice in the wilderness but when it came to shove, I stood my ground and I developed a Sailor or two in to a good leader to carry the battle and do whats right....

<p><span><span>Failed, imprudent and incompetent leadership, careerism over selfless service and a gross and total lack of honor, moral courage, integrity and character allow this BS to become reality.</span></span></p>

Trust me, this is coming from the CNO. I worked for him once and he's ashamed of how white his generation of naval officers is. What he doesn't get is that there is plenty of diversity in the Navy now and ask any young Sailor and it's obvious they are colorblind.

Apparently he is also suffering from some sort of "white guilt" complex, the same twisted thinking that led many people to vote for our current President, ignoring facts and sound judgment in order to seek acceptance by the elite or politically correct crowd.

Perhaps his actions would be mitigated if everything else in the Navy were shipshape and combat ready, but the whole "enterprise" is a frigging disaster.

The racist CNO should resign, or fire those who force this crap in his name.

By time you reach O-4/5, you have sipped if not drunk the Kool-Aid. O-6 is the true turning point. Your peers and seniors will judge if you are worthy to join the exclusive gun club (Flag rank). I'll assume many can argue that the chosen few are chosen at a earlier age, department head level.

Once you are in the Gun Club, you are automatically part of the associated protective association. The dues are simply continue to drink the Kool-Aid. When you leave as part of the protective association guidelines, you exit and never speak ill of your follow flag rank. Never.

Power, politics, and retirement are all part of the equation.

When confronted with the truth of all the BS, I think many O-6s and above have a hard time accepting they are part of the problem. Recognize thier career is thier life's work. It's hard to accept and rare that many will buck the system. Most realize if you buck the system you get asked to leave or put out to pasture in a mind numbing job until you retire.

I am a United States Sailor.I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States of America and I will obey the orders of those appointed over me.I represent the fighting spirit of the Navy and all who have gone before me to defend freedom and democracy around the world.I proudly serve my country’s Navy combat team with Honor, Courage and Commitment.I am committed to excellence and the FAIR TREATMENT OF ALL.

<span>One day you will take a fork in the road, and you’re going to have to make a decision about which direction you want to go. If you go one way, you can be somebody. You will have to make your compromises and … turn your back on your friends, but you will be a member of the club, and you will get promoted and get good assignments. Or you can go the other way, and you can do something, something for your country and for your Air Force and for yourself. … You may not get promoted, and you may not get good assignments, and you certainly will not be a favorite of your superiors, but you won’t have to compromise yourself. … In life there is often a roll call. That’s when you have to make a decision: to be or to do.”-Col. John Boyd</span>

Sal, would you agree that many folks who purport "White guilt" actually harbor sentiments that minorities are incapable of promoting without someone plowing the road for them? Is that not the definition of racism?!

I am also convinced that in certain communities (those where incompetence will not kill someone) the diversity push is a shove. Take a look at the JAG community. They can't police this end run around the law because they are at the absolute forefront of promoting it. Take a look at their promotion boards 50% male female and as many minorities as they can pack in there. I am convinced at some point there was a meeting amongst Flags where the CNO told those in the communities where incompetence can't kill people, "I need you and your communities to really step up here and help us out on the numbers here." Ay ay Sir all the way. There are no Flags with the moral courage to take this intellectual dishonesty and to call it what it is--Racism. It takes a brave person to do so, but those in the O-7+ paygrades should call this what it is. It has been quite a while since I met a Flag Officer worthy of respect and willing to speak his/her mind on topics like this. That kind of outspokeness seems to be disqualifying factor for Flag these days.

Let's not kid ourselves...Flag Officers have always maintained lists of "special people" whose careers are managed from the time they are LTs. I got my first inkling of this in the 46th month of a 36 month DH split tour as I watched a couple of folks head off to a civilian grad program and a JCS Internship. What's different here is that someone feels comfortable enough to commit this to writing (foolishly assuming that it won't be leaked) and to apply the diversity qualifier to it.

My question is, do we have empirical evidence that minorities (and by this I mean blacks, Hispanics, and women) are still being denied promotion, "plum" assignments, command, because they are minorities? If so that evidence needs presented along with an explanation as to why we have not monitored board results to prevent this from happening.

Oh, and the comment "We have to do this to prevent us from black-sliding" is not empirical evidence.

<span>YN2,</span><span></span><span>Hollow words without meaning.. and I never really liked the cultlike rote memory they tried to force with this when it came out.. My Enlistment Oath and then Commission oath was good enough for me..

your point is made though,,, cant expect the rank and file to believe when the Kimono is so wide open</span>

1) There a much more important topics that affect our Navy.2) Expanding the pool of recruits increases the quality of our Navy. Sort of like my home team--LSU--being able to recruit in Texas and Florida, not just Louisiana.3) White male resentment is real, sometimes deserved, and needs to be dealt with. Diversity program exists so that it eventually renders itself obselete.4) Despite the language in the e-mail provided (and who knows about its authenticity), legal policy remains firmly on the side of fairness.

That said, I think many people in historically the Navy has been the exclusive preserve of a protected, taxpayer supported class. Some feel threatened that when the gates are thrown open to more competition.

The fact is, race and gender have no lawful role in accessions, assignments, or promotions. It's the law! "Any person, of whatever race, has the right to demand that any governmental actor subject to the Constitution justify any racial classification subjecting that person to unequal treatment under the strictest of judicial scrutiny." Adarand Constructors, Inc v. Pena, 515 US 200, 224 (1995)

Diversity is not the boogie man coming to get you. It's about getting the best of American talent who want to live by Navy core values.

This crap isn't peculiar to the military or government; it goes on every day in private industry. People clearly less qualified take a spot of a more qualified person because the instructions from up on high say you must promote diversity. We had a program called Diversity & Inclusion at a big oil company that has been in the news recently. Most of us called it Diversity & Exclusion. You know the job postings that include, "minorities and women encouraged to apply" are sending the message that if you are a white male you need not apply. The generation that my son belongs to does not see so much color and ALL of them are angry about the Diversity program at USNA. They don't like it, because all they want is somebody competent next to them whe the sh*t hits the fan. I have 250 employees and I could care less what color, gender, orientation, or race they are; all I want is for them to do their job and do it well and be safe. I saw this same stuff at USAFA back in the late 70's when there was a different standard for females and that lowered the bar for everybody. Men who couldn't do apull-up and athletes who could not spell their own name. Disappointment doesn't begin to describe the feeling. We were pretty color blind, but the generation of today is way out ahead. The only people who see race anymore are the race baiters like the Reverend Jackson (where is his church), Al Sharpton, Benjamin Jealous, La Raza, MALDEF, the KKK and other organizations of their ilk. You see, they are all the same; cut from the same bolt of cloth. Racism, no matter who is practicing it, is wrong. Two wrongs don't make a right. When my son is out in the fleet, I want him to succeed and I don't want somebody who is there on a check box promotion to get him killed. Affirmative Action as Bush 43 so eloquently put it, "is the soft bigotry of racism". It devalues all.

I suggest such programs limit the pool of applicants as it becomes known to white males that they will never advance far no matter how talented they are or how much effort they put into their jobs. They'll go where there isn't a line on the color bar.

Having a list, and tracking the careers of a person because of race, gender or ethnic background is inherently unequal. You're right diversity is not the boogieman. How it is being applied is the boogyman. Getting the best of American talent is done via a meritocracy, not by singling them out and giving them special favor. Is it really that a system must be made inherently unequal to make it equal? Because the mindset that allows directives such as this email is aiming to do exactly that.

No one walks into the Navy with talent that we desperately need, no one. Leaders are made, through a person earning their way through the ranks and all the trials and tribulations that come with it. A CO that got his job through a wink-and-a-handshake is obvious to the crew, they are not as good of a leader as the officer who made their own way there. You do not just recruit people with 'life expierences' and stick them in the military. Your life outside the military cannot and will not completely prepair you for it. If it was the case that civilian life could, there would be no bootcamp or OCS. If we are, through this diversity accountability, ensuring we get the best and brightest minorities into senior leadership positions, then we still are not doing them any favors. At the O-1 through O-3 level they may well be above-average or even exceptional compared to their peers. But, giving them shortcuts to promotion will quickly diminish their growth, they will not be as exceptional as a Flag as they were an Ensign. Because we did not develope them as leaders.

I read your question and the responses that soothed. I'll be honest though, when I entered the officer corps in 1983 what you refer to was called the Division Officer's Notebook and they were required and considered an Admin Inspection Item during Command Inspections. They included the last couple of Evals, all Page 13 entries, counseling sheets and also included the DIVO's notes on the traits that needed to be addressed or built upon or eliminated in each man in the division. It wasn't gossip it was by direct observation. I turned mine over to the man that relieved me and it was just part of the turnover process.

On the other hand, I seldom looked at the DIVO notebooks that were turned over to me until it was time for Evals. I prefer to make my own judgements of the folks that worked for me although the normal course of turnover would involve the guy I was relieving venting about any dirtbags in the Division and telling me who could be relied upon 100%.

I didn't want to say anything about modern day because as the other other posters said, anything with an SSN on it is subject to the Privacy Act and there are some stringent rules associated with the creation of such an item. On the other hand, storing a document with an SSN on a legitimately required document in a binder is sort of a known quantity.

I have to admit I used to read these "diversity Thursday posts with a little humor and skepticsm. I used to think surely our leadership isn't this dumb, right? Plus promoting advancement for those qualified individuals underrepresented in the officer corps always seemed like such a good idea. And, of course, the navy has always been kind of squirrely about the whole race relations and promotions thing, going all the way back to Zumwalt and the race riots of the 70's. It's in our DNA, right? Remember the whole "no pictures in service records before promotion boards" thing we went through a while back only to have them pop back in a couple of years later because we wanted to make sure fat people weren't getting selected then found out it was because we couldn't ensure every group was getting a fair shake based on last names? Now that was squirrely. OK, where am I going? Well, if this is true (and God I hope it's not - not calling you a fibber Sal, just hoping somebody sold you a bill of goods) then we have a real live problem on our hands because this isn't the USN being squirrely anymore, it smacks the face of fairness - you know, the whole "liberty and justice for all" thing. Some might say everybody here is getting all worked up because "white priviledge" is being threatened but those who would say that do not fully understand the system of equality the navy espouses. The double talk that comes out of Millington that you expose on your "diversity Thursday" posts is making me a believer in the premise that our senior leaders could care less about my level of performance in the service to our nation and care more about the amount of pigment in my parent's skin that was genetically passed to me at conception. Sad. I wish someone in leadership would dispute all this drivel and restore the faith. Nothing good ever comes of mess deck intelligence so if this is, indeed, scuttlebutt then please, for the sake of the navy, will somebody with a thick gold braid on their sleeve stand up and give us the gouge on what is going on with the cr@p in the e-mail Sal has posted? PLEASE!

Guest,Thank you for the review of the approved talking point diktat, but as MTH said - facts are stubborn things. Let's start with your numbers:1) Feel free to start your own blog, but I happen to take open, institutional preference policies based race and ethnicity (AKA racism) as a very serious problem. It undermines the entire sense of honor and integrity which is the foundation of military leadership. Just because it makes you uncomfortable to ponder does not make it unimportant.2) I also agree that oxygen is essential to life. We already have an open policy to the entire population. I fully support making sure that everyone has a chance to know what a career in the Navy has to offer, who isn't? That isn't the issue here. Equal opportunity is the antithesis or racial preference.3) Why do you assume that everyone who has a problem with this are white males? If you do - then you are running with a very narrow group of acquaintenes and friends. BTW - I know the ethnicity and background of some of the commenters here - do you? This has nothing to do with white male resentment. Again, you are responding to some post, but it isn't this one. Oh, when do you say "it is obsolete?" When the new ENS was born in 1988 is at least a decade into "obsolete" methinks.4) I know the source and would bet my next VA check on the email's validity. If you think this program is fair - then you need to talk to the USN LCDR who came here from Poland when he was a wee lad as a refugee while his father was in a communist jail. Talk to him about what he brings to the table and what kind of white skin privalege he had going to school in a system were he was in a very small minority if you define such by race. Ask him how this system is fair.

"Exclusive preserve." What are you reading. That is laughable. No one is threatend by an open gate - we all walked through it. Told to get in the back of the line because of someones race - yea, people have an issue with it.

Do you realize that you just stated that the CNO's policy is illegal? I got news for you Shipmate - race and gender have been a deciding factor in accessions, assignments and promotions since I have been in the Navy. As a matter of fact - we publically praise the fact we do.

You are commenting from a USN .mil IP address, you know all this. That tells me one of two things - 1) you are spinning and knowingly stating things you know are false. 2) you are incredibly willfully ignorant of those things right in front of your face.

WW,I get emails all the time from active duty and retired senior officers who did tours at Millington that usually start, "You don't know the half of it. Don't share this information but while I was there .... "

Because they use their real names and ask that I keep their information to myself - I do. I only post about 15% of the things sent my way because they are sent on background; emails, PPT, you name it.

Why do I keep this up? Mostly because of the "thank you" those same people send me for putting this out in public, because they cannot speak. If they spoke out on race, they would be fired in about the same amount of time as Ms. Sherrod.

Hey sometimes Mess Deck Scuttle butt is the gouge! I used to have mooring date and time nailed down by my smoke pit spies before the Battle Watch Captains did... and then I would throw the die on the table and watch the look on their face, like how does that SOB know... they finally just told me so I wouldnt have to work so hard...

This is a sanctioned at the highest level.. this is is the final crossing of the T only instead of Trafalgar, we have diversity. THe question I am asking since I know the mettle of those I serve, is "To what purpose?" WHY is this happening...

That's quotas gone mad. Seriously, that's completely out of control. It speaks to a lack of trust that runs very deep within the culture, never mind the complete breakdown of a performance based culture.

We've had our problems with race and gender, but quotas are just going to make it worse, it's the same as segregation. It boggles my mind that Navy senior leadership even feels the need to do this, let alone appears to be actively doing it.

About 10 years ago, I found and read all of Dr King's speech. It is a wonderful document, and should be required reading for all. If we had all adhered to (and that included Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and Jeremiah Wright), we'd be in a much better place.

For having a post-racial President, I cannot recall in many decades of having this sort of discussion over color, even in the mid-70s.

Sat in a meeting in 1989 in Charleston...me personally, where the local COs/XOs were solicited to put the finger on the scale to make sure the minorities in the service matched the counts in the general population of America. And we were told particularly to help the Hispanics, as they then projected massive and rapid growth of the group in the US population exploding...gee...funny how how we're here now...almost seems like "diversity archeology."

So...quit pretending this is some made up cr@p. It's been here, but now it's demanded openly...back then they were really weasel wording the responses to the "do I have this right: We're to artificially increase performance ratings, just to make sure BUPERS can make the numbers match?" questions....again...in an auditorium in 1989. Reminder for the record: This is a first person report.

You know Virginia, sometimes you want to believe in Santa. You have to believe in Santa because if you don't a lot of the things you get told you stand for become unbelievable and then you question why you would do some of the things you have to do. When somebody stands in front of you, and they're the leadership, and they tell you something and you have no reason to doubt it then you should believe it. I am not calling you a liar but by the same token don't tell me I'm pretending. Nobody ever told me in my 22 years of active duty service to ever inflate anything, ever. All I ever got told to do was give people a fair shake at eval time and reward good performance with solid marks. I served on 5 ships and 2 afloat staffs and wrote a lot of evals.

Then please explain why none of the Rear Admirals on this email addee are resigning... Care to explain what the function exactly is of the Diversity Directorate? Lastly, why do we have a "Latino Engineer of The Year" Award? You must have missed the call out last year of CO's having to look at the FITREPS of their "Top Performing" Minorities thread Phib had as a discussion... no sir there is enough diversity in my face, for me to recognize it..

Guest, with respect to "legal policy remains firmly on the side of fairness"--respectfully, no it does not. Perhaps to our new wise latina Justice Sotomayor the law bends and flexes to meet a liberal's notion of fairness, but according to judicial precedent, the Constitution, the rule of law dating back to Common Law and the basis of contracts (to include the actual Social Contract Theory), it most certainly does not. Unfortunately, many people feel like you do and try to warp the law into justifying programs that are inherently racist, such as Affirmative Action.

The gates are not being thrown open to more competition; instead, the competition is rigged. The competitors are handicapped based on their race and liberal elite egalitarianism. In their attempts to "make up for" years of slants, a legacy of racism and their own guilt, they instead punish the younger generation. These admirals aren't giving up their seats. They aren't retiring. No no no. They lament the fact that they all look alike; that they are all white. So they want to rig the game so that their legacy is the first black CNO; higher officer ascension numbers for minorities--and the quality of the ascensions is a distant priority.

This isn't about can a black man do anything a white man can do--we answered that question years ago as a nation. This is about our own leaders not understanding that Americans don't care--or shouldn't care--what race their officers / presidents / senators / congressmen / chiefs / enlisted are. We are AMERICANS. We are supposed to see that first. As SAILORS we do. Unfortunately, as Admirals, they don't.

Racism's bad no matter which color it's coming from and this one smacks of it. A sad state of affairs.

However, given the fact that the Pres is 1/2 Black (he's 1/2 white too, but neither political side will use that as it doesn't gain any votes), I'm leery of such things. It could drive votes in the proper direction if the perception is that it's OBlama's policy...

I don't see a diversity directorate as being such a bad thing, as long as it's used correctly. I know that position doesn't make me popular here but so be it. I am serving with an Army unit right now but in the previous three yearsI was at a rather political USN HQ inside the beltway I never heard anything from these USN diversity guys other than a reminder of when the "minority of the month" club had it's particular day, month or event. Even then, that's not such a bad thing because I always got to eat some good lumpia. I have wondered why they never had honky month sometime between Black history month and Asian Pacific islander month - still, not enough to get worked up about. OK, enough silliness. I'll try to answer your questions - why do we have a latino engineer? Probably because some latino dude started it up at the O5 or O6 level because he needed a fitrep bullet and the navy glommed onto it to use as a recruiting tool. Why do we have a diversity directorate? Probably political, to placate some group in Congress so the navy can get continued funding for programs. BTW, you think the navy diversity program is the boogie man under the bed? The big green machine has more of these types of programs and honestly, the people in my unit (of all hues) don't seem to get too worked up about them. Just another training event in a long training cycle. Why haven't any Admirals resigned? Not too sure, probably because they have other projects and this stuff is background chatter to a lot of them. Although if the content of the e-mail the phib man posted is on track then some of them should probably be asking some serious questions to the CNO and others about the way we are heading. I guess my question back to you and XFORMED is what are you expecting people currently serving to do? Any kind of exclusionary program are as wrong as a turd in a punchbowl but ships will still need to be manned. I have no control over this BS discriminatory policy and have no input to whatever Admiral is keeping this BS discriminatory list so, for now, I'll continue to serve and do the best I can to ensure my Soldiers (and someday again soon I hope) Sailors, all different colors of them, are treated fairly. That is one thing I can have a direct, positive influence over.

It's up to those serving to be ethical in their dealings, and performance is the only measure for evaluating the individuals. Stand and say it at every opportunity. I'm out, but I spent 6 years telling the system they were doing it wrong, but in that discussion, it was the managment of the qualifications. In addition to three assignments, which the paperwork said I performed well in, I took it on, as a frustrated "end user," who moved to be an inspector. I wrote a program, submitted it, and when the "system" didn't care, I continued to develop the concept, and distroed it, and kept hammering the TYCOM staff who left the instructions to abuse the fleet sailors. Had to grade it as I found it, but the signed directives, and got max crap for "flunking" ships. I'd get in their faces and tell them they were flunking the ships, because the instruction was poorly written and their refusal to redo it (interfered with their long lunch/racquetball/pay back for sea duty leaving early schedules). In the 5th year...all of a sudden my fix as heralded by a TYCOM O-6 as the way to help get things fixed. Same guy who used to corner me and scream at me for doing the job laid out, as signed by the three star. Side effect: I "missed out" on things, because I wasn't exactly polite when telling 4 stripers, no matter what they thought, what their staff told them, the system was broke. The catalyst to get me to put the idea to code that I had been toying with for about 2 years: USS IOWA and dead sailors.

I had shipmates take on similar projects, and saw them get sidelined, or they gave up and went home.

I served with great men and women of all colors and backgrounds. I saw the great ones be recognized, I saw the poor ones get flushed.

To just do as your supeiors tell you when it's not morally right, and keep your mouth shut? You know the answer to that one. I'd suggest you man up and let people know quotas are bad for ALCON.

Did you know that the whole reason they brought back the officer photos to the service record was for this very reason? The initial plan was to have passport photos but it was realized that such an approach was too transparent.

"Diversity program exists so that it eventually renders itself obselete."

FORTY PLUS YEARS, and bigger, more dictatorial and more punitive than ever. IF you honestly believe that this empire is going to disappear in the lifetime of anybody breathing, tell us when you see the first step toward fading away.

Never said I was for a quota system and not sure why you feel this has to be some argument about my manhood or whether I am pretending. Quotas are bad mmmmkay. Standing up in front of your division or department, reading the e-mail in this post and then b1tching about the navy's leadership and what you perceive to be its racist policy would be worse though. Feel like there is discrimination in the navy? Be as fair as possible to everyone. Make sure evals reward good performance. Jack up poor performers. Set fair policy, if you're in a position to make policy, and make it stick as best you can. I can easily be written off as a "kool aid drinker" and if you want, so be it. I used to rail against the machine as a JG and LT but all it really got me was a lot of aggrivation. I have found working my piece of the organization to the best of my ability allows me to influence a greater number of people than railing against the machine and being a bent chitcan ever did. Since this is a rank centric organization and I am not a flag, nor will I ever be, I can't influence the operation of their minds on this kinds of idiocy (racial lists). All I can do is try to set the example for the people entrusted to me and hope they reach positions of leadership some day.

CDR S, Just checked out your post re: mentoring vs. "Sea Daddyism". Think you explained the difference well, although an old timer like me, who came up before they invented the term "mentor", tends to see the term "Sea Daddy" in a positive light as well.

A good leader provides career advice and monitors the progress of subordinates who have performed well and may recommend that individual for a more demanding assignment if asked. The difference is that the reason for this sponsorship (for lack of a better term) is performance not some arbitrary factor.

@Drive By: Wrong or right, the stats are really meaningless. By MY way of thinking, "The Navy" does not promote enlisted so much as E-4 to E-7 get THEMSELVES promoted. In the majority of cases, if you don't get advanced E-4 thru E-7, you really have nobody to blame but yourself, with diversity having very little, if anything to do with it. Yes, there are odd cases where quotas suck, pick your reason...but in general, we get advanced because we did well enough on the test, etc.

Notice that the article did not reveal the test scores, nor did it mention if it was a discriminating factor. Are we going to see E-4 examination results thrown out New Haven Firefighter style if the right proportion of certain demographics fail to pass the promotion exam?

Which is why I changed my civilian profile to be a hispanic!!!!! Everyone should change their race/ethnicity to hispanic! Have the Sailors change their Bupers-On-Line to hispanic. Senior leadership wants to play games, Sailors can play games back!

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